In the northern part of the Ansu Kingdom, frost and snow had covered the land.
This mountainous land was the coldest place in the Ansu Kingdom. The tough northerners had taken root in the mountains and the cold wind, guarding the northern gate of the kingdom and trying to maintain a delicate balance with their more troublesome neighbors in the north for seven hundred years.
Whether it was the Violet Kingdom in the northwest or the Kingdom of the Holy Dragon in the northeast, they were never easy to deal with.
But in this uneasy winter there were new shadows emerging from the frost, and in the eyes of the Duchess of Victoria Verde these new threats were even more alarming than the elusive neighbors to the north, for this threat had sprung up from within the country.
The 'Snow and Ice Duke', Victoria Werder, stood on the balcony of Winter Fort Academy and looked down at the city below. The snow that had started falling before winter had only stopped last night. Everywhere in the town was silvery white, and the typical spires in the northern region could effectively reduce the snow cover. Those black spires pierced through the winter's snow cover, like black pine trees standing tall on the plains below the castle. At a glance, it was like a forest of trees.
In most parts of the kingdom, the arrival of winter meant that production stopped, and people hid in their houses and shivered. But in the coldest part of the northern region, it was different. The people here had adapted to the cold, and to survive, they had to adapt to the long winter that took up half of the year. Even when the snow had just stopped, countless people could be seen moving in the city. They had to clear the snow as much as possible before the next round of snow destroyed the buildings in the city. They also had to drag the bodies of the homeless who froze to death in the gutters out of the city. And in the central square facing the castle, the largest crowd had gathered —
The snow on the square had been cleared, and the people gathered there to watch the burning of the cultists.
The figures in black robes were tied to tall wooden stakes one by one. Heavy black steel chains and shackles with inscriptions restrained their bodies and magic power at the same time. But their twisted and horrifying faces due to their evil magic were still chilling to look at.
A few layers of onlookers had gathered in the square. The soldiers separated the crowd from the cultists, and the gleaming swords stopped the overly agitated citizens from getting any closer to the dangerous blasphemers. In the process, firewood was piled up, and melted animal fat was splashed on the pile of firewood.
"Burn them!" Some of the onlookers finally could not hold back and roared.
"Burn them!" "They killed my children!" "Burn these cultists!" "Burn these cultists!"
A high-ranking cleric of the Church of Holy Light walked to the stake. He took the holy emblem from the hands of a follower beside him and turned to look at the agitated crowd.
"The God of Holy Light has exposed the conspiracy of these cultists. Before more people are harmed, the Lord guides us to destroy the nest of these heretics!"
The high-ranking cleric raised the holy emblem high. He turned around and used the emblem to ignite the flammable oil and firewood. He shouted, "Praise the Holy Light! Praise the Lord! "
Under the influence of the Holy Light and the oil, the platform was instantly engulfed in golden-white flames. The cultists who were tied to the pillars writhed in the flames like wax, letting out all kinds of indescribable howls. Their voices rang out in the square like a tsunami. "Praise the Holy Light!" "Praise the God of Holy Light!"
The flames soared into the sky, and the howls of the cultists did not stop for a long time. Even when the flames burned their bodies, their howls were still coming from the flames. The people around finally realized that something was wrong. They looked at the abnormal flames in horror and listened to the abnormal howls, and the howls finally turned into words that humans could understand. The remaining spiritual power of a dozen cultists stirred in the air and let out a terrifying howl. "Laugh as much as you want! Cry as much as you want! All of you will die! You will all die like livestock, like insects!! When they come back, they will eat your flesh and suck your blood dry! "
The flames suddenly turned black as the flames of a dozen bonfires merged in the air. A huge and indescribable dark purple mass rose from the flames, as if it was going to swallow everyone on the spot. Even the clerics who were chanting praises of the Holy Light in front of the stake were stunned. But just when this terrifying phenomenon appeared, a white beam of light suddenly shot out from the balcony of Winter Fort Academy to the square.
Under the impact of the 'Whip of Winter', the indescribable dark purple mass instantly froze, and then shattered due to the lack of energy support. Large pieces of ice crystal dust fell from the sky, as if another snowstorm had covered half of the square once again. Both the excited crowd and the clerics who were chanting slogans were completely silent. And in the silent square, Duchess Victoria Verde's cold voice rang. "Clean it up. Then praise the Ansu and your founding emperor."
The powerful magic power gradually dissipated on the balcony. Victoria waved her hand and let the magic book that was floating in the air return to her side. She then turned and left the balcony.
The balcony door inlaid with artificial crystals automatically closed behind her, cutting off the sound from the square. The duchess returned to the warm lounge, and a rare look of fatigue appeared on her face.
The black-haired maid came forward and waved her hand to dismiss the other attendants. She then pressed her hand near Victoria's temple and gently massaged it. "You rarely show this expression. The last time was when Duke Gwen Cecil came back."
"This time it's still related to him. If it wasn't for the warning from the founding hero from the Southernmost Region, I'm afraid we would have to wait for the cultists to do more damage before we realize that they have eroded to this extent." Victoria sighed. "This is already the fourth cultist lair that has been destroyed since the beginning of winter. The first three were the Perish Society, and this time it's the Eternal Sleepers. Next time, I won't be surprised if the Children of the Storm come back from the sea."
"It is said that there are actually very few cultists in the Southernmost Region. They have only shown up twice, but each time they were detected and wiped out by the Duke …"
Victoria gently waved her hand, and the black-haired maid, Maggie, immediately stopped what she was doing.
"We've been at ease for too long. The whole kingdom has been at ease for too long." Victoria stood up from the bench and quietly looked at the portraits of the founding heroes hanging on the wall in front of her. Gawain Cecil's portrait had been taken down, but she was still staring at the blank space beside Charles, the founder of the kingdom. "From the king to the local nobles, they were seriously lacking in vigilance. But 700 years ago, Grand Duke Cecil came from the most turbulent era of the kingdom. He was more vigilant than all of us. It's funny that the incompetent people in the king's city at the beginning thought that the founding duke's warning about the cultists was an overreaction and a fuss made by the ancients in modern society. Hmph, now they're panicking."
The black-haired maid stood quietly behind Victoria and did not say anything. The duchess seemed to be used to it. She paused and said, "Have you found anything on the matter I asked you to investigate?"
The black-haired maid bowed her head and said, "Yes. The priests of the Church of Holy Light have been more active recently, and new missionary teams have appeared in various places. But all their activities are very reasonable. They are fighting against the cultists, searching and clearing out the lair of the cultists. The missionaries are also spreading the word about how to screen the cultists and protect oneself from the curse. The power of the Holy Light does have a unique advantage in this regard. Other than that, they have no extra activities. They have no conflicts with other sects or snatch faith resources, and there is no friction with the local lords. "
Victoria frowned and said, "Is that so …"
The black-haired maid asked curiously, "Vicki, are you suspecting that there is something wrong with the priests of the Holy Light?"
"No … I am just a little concerned about their recent activities. They have suddenly become active." Victoria shook her head and said, "But it should be my illusion. After all, the cultists are suddenly causing trouble everywhere, and only the Church of the God of War and the Church of Holy Light can wipe out the cultists. Among them, the Church of Holy Light is the most effective against evil," Victoria said faintly. "We have no reason to interfere with their activities within the legal scope. Continue to pay more attention. If they have any improper thoughts, they will give themselves away sooner or later."
"Yes."
…
After winter, the flow of information had become difficult and slow as the number of traveling merchants decreased.
In this era where cutting-edge technology was scarce and not widespread, and ordinary society still maintained a primitive and backward situation, the transmission of information was an awkward and inefficient thing. Although there were magic and tools such as messaging and the Mithril Ring, there were very few people who had mastered these communication technologies and there was no effective way to share information with each other. So these technologies could not let people know what was happening in a distant place in a timely and comprehensive manner. For most civilians and even nobles, the main means of information transmission was still the traveling caravans and the commissioners who sent letters.
And for the new Cecil Hill, which was located in a remote area and did not attract many traveling merchants, the slow transmission of information was even more of a problem.
In the territory, Gwen had established a simple messenger team. In addition, the main population settlements in the Cecil Hill were only the towns, the logging villages in the west, and the mining villages in the east (which had almost developed into a small town), so internal transmission of information was not a problem. But if they wanted to communicate with the outside world, with the manpower and material resources in the territory, there was no way to establish their own channel of information. They could only rely on the extremely limited number of merchants from Tanzania Town who came to sell food, cloth, or slaves, as well as the expatriates who were specially sent to Kant Hill and Leslie Hill to collect information.
So when Gwen learned that there were signs of cultists everywhere in the kingdom, it was already a month after he issued a warning to the Captical.
This was the result of relying on the information channel of Viscount Andrew Leslie. Without the fast griffin messenger, it would take more than a month to go back and forth from the Captical to the Southern Territory on foot.
Looking at the information in front of him, Gwen's brows tightly knitted together.
Hu Po, on the other hand, did not know what was written in the letter that had been sent from Tanzania Town early in the morning. She was carving a piece of wood with a dagger out of boredom. When she looked up and saw Gawain's expression, she asked casually, "What's wrong? Did the price of rice go up? "
"No, it's the cultists."
Amber suddenly jumped up from her chair. "Are we going to fight the cultists again?! Hey, is it too late for my stomach to hurt? "
"It's not here," Gwen glanced at Amber. "It's the cultists that are appearing everywhere in the kingdom except the Southern Territory."
Amber was relieved when she heard this. She lowered her head and sat back to carve the wood. "Oh, as long as they don't get in our way."
Gwen looked helplessly at the shame of the Elves, but he could not be as relaxed as the other party.
The situation was just as he had expected. The cultists had infiltrated all aspects of the kingdom. Not only did they find traces of their activities in the territories of the border lords, but even near the Captical, there were signs of them stirring up trouble in the Sacred Plains.
A large number of cultists' lairs were found and uprooted, but more of them were just found and then lost.
Or by the time it was discovered, it was already too late. The cultists had already completed their evil sacrifice, and the local nobles only found the bloody scene after the ritual.
In addition to this disturbing information, there was another thing that made Gwen feel urgent and … uneasy.
All the information was seriously outdated. The news from the Captical was a month ago, and the situation in the Northern Territory was still unknown.
He needed to establish his own information channel and have it in his own hands. And it had to be more efficient and reasonable than the various information channels of the present age.
For now, the spell model of the messaging spell had not been analyzed, and the attempt of electromagnetic wave communication had also failed. From a technical point of view, it was impossible to realize the "modern communication network" that Gwen envisioned. But even if there was no cheap way to communicate, he could first come up with a framework.
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